North Korea threatened on Wednesday to cancel the forthcoming summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump if Washington presses ahead with its key demand for Pyongyang to unilaterally give up its nuclear arsenal.

If the Trump administration "corners us and unilaterally demands we give up nuclear weapons we will no longer have an interest in talks and will have to reconsider whether we will accept the upcoming DPRK-US summit", first vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.